(Canada, 11 min.)
Written and directed by Chris Landreth
Starring: Chris Landreth, Don McKellar, John
Dilworth
Programme: Short Cuts Canada, Programme 1 (Canadian
Premiere)
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| Photo taken from the production, courtesy of the NFB. |
Pop culture junkies unite! Have you ever had that awkward experience
of forgetting someone’s name at a party, then stepping back into the recesses
of the mind to try to find it, only to be lost amidst all the useless trivia
stored there? Chris Landreth, director of the Academy Award winning short Ryan, uses this social gaffe as the
springboard for an animated odyssey into the subconscious. This NFB-produced
film, which makes its Canadian premiere at TIFF following a win for Best Short
at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, is a perfect example of the
cutting-edge filmmaking on display in the Short Cuts Canada programme.
Charles (played by Landreth) finds himself a contestant in a
nightmarish edition of the classic game show Password (Game Show Network fiends know the one), hosted by parts
of his subconscious (voiced by Don McKellar) and a gaggle of celebrity guests
who try to coax the fellow partygoer’s name out of him. From an animated James
Joyce to a cartoon of Yoko Ono (a novel highlight), Subconscious Password pulls out all the pop culture clutter that
clogs our minds and creates roadblocks for useful knowledge.
As Charles loses himself further in his
subconscious and labors to uncover the hidden name, the pieces of the game
become stranger and stranger. Charles is lost in a game of cultural currency
run amok. The guests on the game show take Charles down a rollercoaster of
weirdness, as Yoko Ono is replaced by a man-eating monster (Beatle fans might
argue that there is little difference between the two) and even a giant naked
infant version of Charles himself. (In 3D no less.) Subconscious Password is often very funny and it is always very,
very, weird.
Landreth brings the story to life using stunning
animation—the film will screen in 3D at the festival—that begins as manic
manipulation of live action and becomes more surreal as the game progresses.
The animation becomes more imaginative, too, as Charles increasingly loses his
mind, and Landreth’s animation displays a creative mind with all its synapses
firing. Subconscious Password, however, might
amount to sensory overload for some viewers as the visual
audaciousness amplifies along with the swelling soundtrack and increasingly
manic action. The energy of Subconscious
Password nevertheless takes festivalgoers on a run through the life of
television, as the visuals evolve from the fuzzy black and white of Password reruns to vibrant and complex
renderings of some of the most cutting-edge techniques you’ll see in
contemporary animation. Creativity truly springs from madness.
Rating: ★★★½ (out of ★★★★★)
Rating: ★★★½ (out of ★★★★★)
Subconscious Password screens in Short Cuts Canada Programme
1:
Saturday,
Sept. 7, 9:45 pm at TIFF Bell Lightbox 2
Sunday,
Sept. 8, 10:45 am at TIFF Bell Lightbox 4
Some of the shorts will also be playing online 24 hours after their public screening, so please check http://www.youtube.com/tiff and see if Subconscious Password is one them!
Some of the shorts will also be playing online 24 hours after their public screening, so please check http://www.youtube.com/tiff and see if Subconscious Password is one them!
Note:
Subconscious Password also screens at
the Ottawa International Animation Festival in Short Film Competition 2 at:
Thursday,
Sept. 19, 3:00 pm at ByTowne Cinema (GALA)
Sunday,
Sept. 22, 5:00 pm ByTowne Cinema
